I am Justinian.
Here I stand, in the church I built, looking down on you.
And it is right that I stand here, with my generals and priests, for all my
life I have striven to do God’s work. Barbarians have been crushed, heretics
extirpated, traitors destroyed: all swept down to the depths of hell. Look upon
me as one proud to have been God’s instrument; dispensing his justice, enacting
righteous laws, glorifying him in new churches, proclaiming his truth, causing
his light to shine in all lands, so that a universal Christian empire, which is
his will for the world, is now close to fulfilment. Know this, for I
am Justinian.
